Architect jobs in South Africa

Who We Are:

At VML, Human First is our guiding creative philosophy: we create value for people first, knowing this drives authentic and sustainable brand impact. We are a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.

We connect Brand Experience, Customer Experience, and Commerce to craft unified, emotionally resonant consumer journeys.

Our 26,000 people across 50-plus markets are the heart of our company. Their perspectives, local expertise, and cultural insights drive creativity and innovation, making talent our most critical competitive advantage.

As part of the VML EMEA Enablement Team the Technical Architect (aka Enteprise / Solutions Architect) primary role is to partner with VML and its client's Marketing and Technical teams to deliver data led solutions by leading the design, delivery, and execution of client engagement solutions, including CRM, Personalization, Marketing Automation, and act as a trusted advisor to our customers while aiding the customer's transformational journey.

This role plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between marketing requirements and technical capabilities, ensuring that marketing teams can leverage the right technology tools/solutions to achieve their goals effectively.

The Technical Architect is a key figure in designing and implementing marketing technology solutions that empower marketing teams to drive successful campaigns, enhance customer experiences, and achieve overall marketing objectives. To accomplish this, this role possesses strong technical writing skills; a blend of operational, marketing knowledge and technical expertise, and must have the ability to set the vision translating business objectives into enticing and actionable recommendations. This person will need to naturally lead their colleagues and participate in building our team culture.

Your duties as a Technical Architect will include, but will not be limited to the following:

• Engage with existing and new clients to deliver strategic solutions, lead on technical client engagements from scoping the new engagement, to creating the solution and solution design documentation. This aspect of the role may require working closely with the Client Lead or Business Development team to gain a complete sense of client expectations and limitations
• Determine project scope and specifications to the final presentation of software solutions, the Solution Architect meets directly with clients to provide feedback, solution alignment and updates on projects. This may require reports and presentations, as well as demonstrations, to keep the client informed about issues that arise during development and report on integration and deployment
• Serve as a liaison between client and developers
• Support the team with technical solution recommendations as well as operational delivery of solutions
• Be process driven and provide technical innovation, most notably in the handover of technical solutions to the developer team
• Engage with developers, consultants and project managers and work with clients on the following type of engagements:
  • Solution design and architecture (Medium and High Complexity);
  • Data and technology governance principles
  • Scripting and query development
  • Data mapping and extract strategies
  • Relational data / data schema
  • Provide tech support on complicated requests
  • Participation in advanced technical projects
  • Integrations between marketing and data platforms
  • Web services and API development
  • Custom reporting, custom application development projects
  • HTML creation for webpages and emails
  • Webpage builds using jQuery framework
• Leverage native scripting languages relevant to solve for requirements in most effective, optimal and scalable manner.
• Active mentoring and knowledge transfer within the broader developer team.
• Keep up to date with new technologies, trends, and where applicable, the introduction of these to the developer team and/or organization as a whole

• Marketing technology experience (such as marketing data, production, content management, planning, implementation, various channel use - e.g. email, web, mobile etc., CRM, Audience Management and Analytics) in preferably some of the popular technology stacks including Google, Adobe, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Salesforce Data Cloud, Salesforce Personalisation, AWS, Snowflake, etc.
• Marketing Functional Experience – in order of importance
• Customer data platforms
• Personalization
• Direct Digital (Mobile, Email, SMS, MMS & Push)
• CMS & Content arbitration/automation
• Web Analytics
• Understanding the unique business requirements of customers within multiple industries and translating/presenting those needs into a compelling vision and roadmap for our customers
• Proven record of accomplishment with solution engineering
• Inquisitive, practical, and passionate about technology and sharing knowledge
• Ability to architect and develop middleware solutions between the technology stacks mentioned above
• Experience with SQL, relational databases (MSSQL, MySQL, etc.) and data modelling
• Bachelor’s degree - Marketing or Information Systems will beneficial (or 5 years plus hands on marketing experience)
• CDP & CRM experience would be beneficial.
• Understanding of data models, understanding of data base marketing, understanding of Lifecycles (Customer and Product)
• Data / Architecture certification would be beneficial
• Software development knowledge or experience with any of the following would be advantageous: mobile development (IOs or Android) or web development (PHP or ASP.Net core)

• Experience working with a project management office
• Experience in Automotive industry beneficial
• Experience with best practice development methodologies
• At least 5 years’ experience in leading and mentoring a technical/dev team
• Solid oral and written interpersonal communication and relationship skills
• Proven time management skills in a dynamic team environment
• Ability to work as part of a team to solve problems in varied, fast-paced environments
• Willing and able to travel occasionally

*Please note that our business is an equal opportunity employer and preference in appointment for the role will be in line with the EE strategy of our organisation*

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We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

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